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<jim912@gmail.com>
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Mail your forms, documents
and evidence here...
Department of Veterans Affairs
Claims Intake Center
PO Box 5235
Janesville, WI 53547-5235
Toll Free Fax: 844-822-5246
We recommend that you mail a copy
and then fax a copy! Yes, it's twice the
work but maybe VA will only lose one
and the other will be processed.
Remember: Use Certified Mail!
Forms to File Claims
VA Form 21-526EZ
For...
Disability Service Connection
Secondary Service Connection
IncreasedDisability Compensation
Temporary Total Disability Rating
Individual Unemployability
Compensation under 38 U.S.C. 1151
Special Monthly Compensation
Specially Adapted Housing
Special Home Adaptation
Automobile Allowance/Adaptive Equipment
Benefits Based on a Veteran's
Seriously Disabled Child
VA Form 21-0958 - NOD
Notice of Disagreement
VA Form 21-534 EZ
Application for DIC, Death Pension
Change of Address
TDIU Annual - VA Form 4140
Declaration of Status of Dependents
VA form 21-686c
How To
How To Apply For SSDI
How To Apply For
TDIU Unemployability
How To Use
Disability Benefits Questionnaires
(DBQ's)
How To Apply For A Disability Rating
How To Apply For An Increase
to an existing rating
How To Retrieve Your
Military Personnel Records
Research Your Claim
The M21-1MR
The CFR
TDIU
SMC
The Schedule For Rating Disabilities
Department of Veterans Affairs
Fiduciary Program Manual
Fiduciary Program Responsibilities
Delegation of Authority
Program Organization
Definitions for Program Purposes
Responsibilities of the Field Examiner (FE)
Responsibilities of the
Legal Instruments Examiner
Responsibilities Regarding
the Release of Information
Coordination with Veterans
Health Administration (VHA)
Veterans Benefits
Administration
(VBA)
Fact Sheets
Standard Claims and
Appeals Forms Update
Disability Compensation Benefits
C-123 Aircraft and
Agent Orange Exposure
DBQ's
TDIU
Unemployability
MST
Presumptive Benefits
Special Monthly
Compensation
(SMC)
More veterans today have sleep
disorders, new study reveals
C & P Exams & the
Claims Process
New data sheets from VA
/compensation/claimexam.asp.
If you’ve already been scheduled for a VA
claim exam, but need to reschedule the date
and time, be sure to change your
appointment using the phone number
given to you as soon as possible. For more
information about the claim process, go to www.benefits.va.gov/compensation
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Guide to Federal Records
Records of the Veterans Administration [VA]
(DTRA)
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
VA Payment for Emergency Care
VA Benefits for Sleep Apnea
as a service
connection to PTSD
Brett Valette, Ph.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Speak With A
Veterans Law Attorney
An Expert Physician
or a
Veterans
Clinical Psychologist
TODAY!
Case Evaluations Are
Always Free!
PROCEDURAL Guidance
requests to Add Dependents
Legislation will help Pacific veterans
exposed to Agent Orange
How To Leak To ProPublica
Tech Q&A
Finding veterans' records online
MRI twice as likely as biopsy to spot
prostate cancer, research shows
Become a Freedom Fighter
Join the ACLU
VA starts domestic violence program
Department of Defense Extends
Online Military Exchange
Shopping Privileges to Veterans
Here's What Medicare Part A
Costs and Covers in 2017
Welcome to Military Disney Tips!
VA urges veterans to be
screened for hepatitis C
Veterans injured by service wait
years for compensation hearings
"Contact Your Representative!!!"
Who are my representatives?
New Outreach for Vets Regarding
Discharges & Military Records.
Vietnam War
Resources
VA’s Airborne Hazards and Open Burn
Pit Registry for Veterans and Servicemembers
Home Based Primary Care (HBPC)
Veterans Benefits Administration
Benefit Brochures
The Veterans Law Library
U.S. Medicine
Veterans Benefits Administration
Fact Sheets
Benefits.gov
vets.gov
va.gov
evet
ebenefits
Veterans Benefits
Administration
(VBA)
Benefit Brochures
The Fully Developed Claim
eClaim Disability
Compensation Brochure
eBenefits
Your VA & DoD Benefits. Online
Summary of VA Home Loan
Guaranty Benefits
Summary of VA Benefits
Summary of VA Benefits
for Disabled Veterans
UPDATED...April 2017
This is a series of stories
bringing light to the dark side of the
VA’s treatment of some Veterans
applying for disability. Whether out
of frustration, desperation, anger, or
‘just to make it right” they contacted me, and together, we fought the injustice.
These are actual cases and claims.
I have changed names and identifying
information for confidentiality reasons.
This is the first in a series of stories bringing
light to the dark side of the VA’s treatment
of some Veterans applying for disability.
Claim Killer DBQ Questions.
VA Spotlight is a series of stories bringing
light to the dark side of the VA’s treatment
of some Veterans applying for disability.
Whether out of frustration, desperation,
anger, or ‘just to makeit right” they contacted
me, and together, we fought the injustice.
Click Here To Contact Dr. Valette
Department of Veterans Affairs
1-877-881-7618
9 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET
for assistance
CIA Freedom of Information Act
Electronic Reading Room
VAWatchdog
America's Leading Resource For
Military Veterans News & Benefits Information
Over Ten Years of Service to America's Military Veterans
Since 2005 This Is The Site VA Reads When They
Want To Learn What They've Been Doing
Welcome Aboard!
Budget Calls for Cuts to VA Programs
as Tradeoff for Extending Choice
Listed as one of the offsets for the extra cost is a new restriction on compensation for veterans
through the VA's "individual unemployability" program.The change, which the budget
describes as a "modernization," would stop the higher payments once a veteran who is eligible
for Social Security payments reaches the minimum age to receive them.
If you're worried about your benefits, you must let Congress know.
If you don't make your opinion heard, you're part of the problem.
I have a job, does that mean I cannot get TDIU?
No. In fact, TDIU (or just “IU) benefits are available under certain situations even if you are
working. However, income earned from employment must be at or below the poverty level, or
from a job that is considered to be “sheltered”. These types of employment are not considered as
substantially gainful employment (SGE), but rather “marginal employment”. Marginal
employment is considered as “earned annual income that does not exceed the poverty threshold
for one person as established by the US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.” For
2016, the poverty level for which a veteran must be working under was $11,880.
A “sheltered” job could be something like a family business, sheltered workshop, or a position
created or modified to your own needs and is considered to be marginal employment, even if
that job earns an income over the current poverty amount. Sheltered employment means that
you are given special treatment due to your service connected disabilities that would not
normally be given to other employees. For example: a veteran with PTSD works for a family
friend’s business. The family friend provides the veteran with an office and duties that only
require limited interaction with other people. The veteran’s salary pays his bills, and is over the
current poverty threshold. But, because the job has been created to his individual needs (limited
interaction with other people), his job is considered to be sheltered, and therefore falls under
“marginal employment.” The VA cannot consider this job as being SGE, and must not use it
against him in determining IU status.
Questions? Comments? Need More Info?
VA plan slap in face for veterans
This is a copy of a letter I have sent to President Trump. "I implore that you
direct VA Secretary, David Shulkin, to abandon his attempts
to strip benefits from our veterans and disabled veterans."
American Legion big slams Trump’s VA budget proposal as
‘stealth privatization’ attempt to hurt older veterans
Trump has touted his $186 billion plan as veteran-friendly for its $4 billion increase in
discretionary funding. But its increased costs were going to be offset by cuts to services
used by older vets — including rounding down the cost of living increases
for veterans and doing away with a program that helped unemployed ex-military.
Democrats, veterans groups criticize tradeoffs in Trump’s VA budget
Trump’s budget proposes to reinstate a practice to round down veterans’ cost-of-living
adjustments and boot some disabled, unemployed veterans
from a program that allows them to receive higher disability payments.
Depression among military veterans too often leads to them committing suicide, in
numbers some view as a crisis. Apparently the Department of
Veterans Affairs does not consider dealing with it a priority.
VA OIG: Poor IT security puts VA's financial info at risk
"Without good information technology security controls, VA’s financial
information may not be safe in terms of confidentiality, integrity and availability,"
OIG blasts VA over IT security controls, calls standards weak, unsafe
This is not the first time the agency was criticized for its security vulnerabilities:
OIG Deputy Assistant Inspector General said the issues have been consistent since 2000.
Idaho woman pleads guilty in veterans benefits ruse
A southwest Idaho woman whose grandmother received benefits as the
wife of a deceased veteran has admitted to collecting
about $91,000 by not reporting her grandmother’s death.
Suspended VA doctor pleads not guilty to drug charges
A suspended Cincinnati VA senior administrator, Dr. Barbara Temeck, pleaded not guilty
to three federal drug charges Wednesday and was released on her own recognizance.
* Can veterans sue the United States for medical malpractice?
* Is there a special process for suing the government?
* Where do you file a lawsuit?
* Isn't it impossible to win a lawsuit against the United States?
* Do I need a local lawyer to file a claim against my local VA or military
health care facility for malpractice?
* Do I need a lot of money to hire a firm such as RawlsMcNelis to bring
a medical malpractice claim against the United States?
Click here for the answers to these and other questions.
Retired and divorcing? Believe in 5301 protection?
Hey Jim, This is the latest case (and it’s a Supreme Court case) about VA benefits and
how they are considered when a military retiree is in a divorce situation. This will serve to further
clarify (or cloud, depending on perspective) an already contentious area for some veterans.
Howell v. Howell, Docket #15-1031 . The Court unanimously held that a “state court may not order
a veteran to indemnify a divorced spouse’s portion of the veteran’s retirement pay caused by
the veteran’s waiver of retirement pay to receive service-related disability benefits.”
Although the Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act allows a state to treat a
military veteran’s retirement pay as community property, it “exempts from this grant of permission
any amount that the Government deducts ‘as a result of a waiver’ that the veteran must
make ‘in order to receive ‘disability benefits.’” The Court therefore held in Mansell v. Mansell,
490 U.S. 581 (1989), that if a veteran waived a portion of his retirement pay by electing to receive
disability pay and later gets divorced, a state court may not treat the waived retirement pay
as community property. The Court held here that the same result obtains when the
veteran makes that waiver after his divorce — a divorce in which he
agreed to pay his former spouse 50% of his military retirement pay each month.
/s/ Drew Early, Esq.
Dr. Brett Valette provides Military Veterans with psychological
Independent Medical Evaluation, Independent Medical Opinions,
Nexus Letters and Ratings Reviews. For more information visit
www.VeteransPsychEvaluations.com